tale of two cities

Kids up and at the breakfast buffet well ahead of the support staff this morning - not helped by Wendy and Dale getting two calls on the cell phone from an idiot insurance broker in New Zealand at 3.30 am and then again at 4 am, separated by a very noisey american foursome in the car park immediately below our rooms - Marcus let them know the noise wasn't appreciated ..... Wendy was pleased the kids didn't seem to realize the negotiations the ladies of the night were discussing ......

This mornings training session was a bit of a nightmare for most first runs - the kids seemed to struggle to co-ordinate their arms and brains - Wendy had an email telling us the news that there was a live web cam operating on the bottom end of the course and passed this information on to the kids and the fact that they were being watched by their families at home seemed to help them focus a bit ....

Looking upstream, low water level, towards the new and old  bridges

Lunch was eaten outside in the sun and at that stage the prospect of another thunder storm during the afternoon seemed likely - sure enough just at the end of the second session down it came - so hard it was like someone was actually hosing us down with a high pressure hose as we staggered up the path from the course back to the hotel - 

This afternoons session was a technical session and the river had dropped significantly. Kids also practiced teams runs but with a lot more paddlers of other nations on the course it was a bit more chaotic than the last couple of days. The juniors from Slovenia were in big numbers as this weekends race is actually their selection race for the world junior champs in three weeks time.

Deahna and Haylee, teams practice

Callum, Matthew and Finn, teams practice

Dinner was served inside - its a bit tricky to find a space to house us all to eat, the 'apartment' where Pavel and Martin are with the one sink and the fry pans is as big as a bathroom and can only fit 6 people in if everyone stands up side by side - so we took the camping tables up to Matthew, Callum and Luke's room and ate there. One pan bacon and potato fritatta without the final grilling in the oven 'cause we haven't got one!!red cabbage,carrot and crispy noodle salad, followed by icecream and strawberries.

It was time for a bit of a geography lesson so we headed out in the vans to the old border between Italy and Slovenia - which was determined at the end of the second world war and runs through the middle of the town of Gorica creating a new town on this side called Nova Gorica of which the older area of Solkan is a suburb. Its only been for the past two years that even though it is two different countries its really now run as one town as far as transport systems and infrastructure goes

waiting between runs

one foot in Italy, one foot in Slovenia, just prior to Jandal golf.

. Kids tolerated the small geography lesson for 5 minutes and then had a game of jandal golf across the border - much more fun than history!

hail storms and training don't mix - Monday 25th June

The day started well with cooler calm weather - the breakfast buffet continues to stump Daniels attempts at conquering it ..... kids all eating well and settling into good routines after the long travelling time. Everyone headed to the course to warm up and discovered that the hydroelectric dam upstream was releasing a fair bit more water down and the level was way up. Some paddlers took this change in flow better than others but after one run they all seemed very comfortable on it. Today they were doing thirds, essentially splitting the course in three with a stop at each section then roaring through it with a coach and a video camera trained on them. This was all going very well for the first few runs until Solkan was hit by a very dramatic thunder and lightning storm, then hail and then torrential rain. Wise European heads called the kids off the water and sure enough it got a lot worse. Some of the South Islanders see so little of this kind of weather we had trouble getting them inside.

 Home for lunch inside in one of the hotel lounges ( don't worry, we cleaned up the mess before the housemaids found us) and video review squashed into Pavel and Martins tiny lounge area half at a time.

By the afternoon technical session on the river the weather had dried up and by tea time we all had chicken and vegetable pasta on the patio outside Martin and Pavel's room. Another fine tuning of foam and fittings in boats and now quiet time before a few heading out for an evening jog. Robin and Deahna ran to Italy and back before tea.

 Martin and Pavel have everything running well with the kids training, and Wendy has already put through a massive amount of washing along with  shopping trips and cooking....looks like its going to be lots of one pan meals.  



Dinner outside the apartment - one of the vans in the background .......

the last of the boat padding out 

Augsburg

On Saturday the rest of the NZ Team arrived into Munich Airport and met by the coaching staff. Everyone looked a mix between excited and tired following the flight. Malcolm and Anna soon joined up with the rest of the U23 team whilst the juniors headed off to Slovenia. After a couple of sessions at the Eis cannel and a lot of sleep they looked to be getting into the european environment.
Yesterday we decided to head out for a Team Dinner, we all thought that it would be 'rude not to' go to a local german beer house for a traditional meal. 

Today Anna, Shaun, Ben and I headed into town to check out the local sights. A tour around the church, a run up the tower and a walk through the town was a great way to spend the afternoon. Shaun did his usual shopping tour and introduced Anna to H&M. A very light load for his normal spree, with one item each (at bargain prices though).  Shortly after that we were back down to the course for another session. Annas boat should turn up on Wednesday, Other than that everything is going well and with the World Cup just under a week away the course is slowly transforming into and event site with banners, beer carts, and of course a large influx of paddlers.  

Sunny Solkan sunday 24th June

Kids all up and at the fantastic buffet breakfast by 7am!! Out of sync timezones and the anticipation of unpacking  new boats were too much to keep them in bed. Beautiful warm weather, boats and padding and glue all over the hotel front lawn and a picture postcard building on every corner made for a great start to the day.

 Dale and Wendy headed off in the van to track down the supermarket and get in supplies for lunch and cooking implements to use in the tiny kitchen attached to Parvel and Martins room - called an apartment but really just two electric rings, one sink (no plug) and no plates or cutlery - and a fridge the size of a portable TV. Bit different to the orchard garden kitchen ...... Kids who had a boat padded out and ready to go, took the 5 minute cobbled street commute on foot to the course on the Soca River. It would be fair to say that they are all totally impressed by the surroundings down at the course,- tiered stone walls, a cafe, lots of locals sunbathing, swimming and watching our guys training, - from the vantage points along the course and from the totally cool cafe at the top of the course.  New boats received their first scratches and new paddles put through their paces in the 30degree plus heat. Martin and Pavel organised for the boats to be stored down at the course in the boathouse so its almost luxury here for everyone - only having to carry your paddle    and gear down. Just heading out for tea down at the pizza place on the corner - this treat due to a miscalculation by Wendy of the opening hours of the supermarket - its Sunday and all the shops close at 3pm and we hadn't brought in all the tea supplies during the hurried trip this morning -

                                           Pizza for dinner

                                               the little road down to the kayak course

                                              Houses opposite the hotel

Hotel Sabotin and the kayak trailer

                                                      Pavel coaching

looking downstream 

Travelling

A very very long trip begining with the south islanders squeezing out of Queenstown just as the snow began and arriving in Auckland just as the huge winds predicted for the North island arrived. We were treated to hail storms and lightening all night and woke to a clear and sunny winters day in Auckland. The north islanders met us at the airport and the loading of the boats with the Emirates staff was smooth and stress free.

The flight Brisbane and on to Dubai was long but we were supplied with great food and endless movies to help those of us who couldnt sleep pass the 20 hours of travelling. Landing in Dubai in the very early morning  saw us all really pleased to get off the plane and stretch. The huge new international transit area at Dubai has the biggest duty free shopping in the world - however two coffees at Starbucks cost Dale nz$17.50 and the paddlers weren't keen to part with any of their spending money. Back on board a new plane - for the 6hr trip through to Munich. This was an A380 and had more room on it than the 777 and once again the Emirate team looked after us brilliantly - so much so that as we arrived in Munich an announcement was made to the entire plane that the NZ junior slalom squad had travelled from NZ with Emirates and they all wished the team the very best of luck. The New Zealand rugby 7's team also on board didnt get a mention and also wished our guys luck.

We were met in Munich by Aaron who whisked off Anna and Malcolm, and Martin and Pavel were parked at the front with two beautiful vans and a trailer courtesy of the Czech rafting team. Boats were loaded and we headed off on the 7hr drive to Solkan in Slovenia. The kids were exhausted but the four countries they passed through on this trip, and the scenery of alps, castles, tunnels, bridges and tiny villages blew them away. Settled into the Hotel Sabotin for well earned showers and sleep. 

Rest of the team departs

Bon voyage and best of luck for a wonderful trip with some great results.

U23 have arrived

The first group of athletes have begun their European tour with the U23s arriving in Munich. (Shaun Higgins, Ella Nicholas and myself - Malcolm Gibson and Anna Higgins will fly with the U18 group and join the Team in a week).  The U18 tour will head off to race some U18 races and then everyone will join together to race the World U23 and U18 Championships as one NZ Team. 

On arrival we met up with Ben picked up the car and headed straight to the Eis Cannel.  Everyone is very excited and happy to swap the cooler temperatures of New Zealand with the warm 35 degrees in Augsburg, Germany.  After eats some real food and a good sleep the team was straight out on the water for their first session. 

Monday 10 June 2013

Only 11 days until the Junior team leave Auckland for Europe. The trip this year heads to Liptovsky in Slovakia for the junior world champs which run from July 17th through until July 21st. The team fly into Munich to be met by Martin and Pavel with vans and a trailer from Prague, and drive down into Slovenia to Solkan for a few days of training followed by competition in the first of the Junior world series races.Our next destination was to have been the Czech Republic but our plans have altered following the terrible flooding in Prague and instead of heading up there we are now booked into accommodation in Ljubljana and training at the course at Tacen. From there we head up to Poland and the city of Krakow to train and compete in the second of the junior world series races. This is followed by a short trip back across the border into Slovakia and our stay at Liptovsky Mikulas for the Junior and U23 world champs. We will be joined by the U23 group at this stage.

Travelling with the team this year are Dale Butcher as manager and Wendy Robertson,

 Martin Hammer, coach, Pavel Foukal, coach,

Athletes

Matthew Arnott

Marcus Norbury

Finn Butcher

Callum Gilbert

Luke Robinson

Daniel Munro

Tommy McDowell

Jess Bailey

Haylee Dangen

Deahna Shearer

Patrick Washer (u23)

Robin Pieper (u23)

Joining in Liptovsky with ...

Aaron Osbourne (coach)

Ben Gibb

Malcolm Gibson

Shaun Higgins

Anna Higgins

Ella Nicholas (Cook Islands)

C1 U23 teams

Cole found a C1 to borrow so he could race teams with Ben and Shaun. They looked pretty professional up to gate 9 and all nailed the main drop, Cole even pulled off the money move forwards. Then Ben caught an edge in 10 and got a 50. Cole liked the idea so threw in a  role just after 17 too. They couldn't persuade Shaun to join in the party but they all blame him for their issues due to the blinding brightness of his new paddle shirt ;-)

On the way home, we hit all 3 traffic lights in a row on green, something we have been trying for 2 weeks. So all in all, a pretty successful finish to the day......

Special mention to Kellie Bailey who sat and judged the same first 5 gates for 5 days. Pretty boring spot, but a great job, well done.

Party time tonight  followed by an early morning drive to Chicago to the fun park. shopping then flights home.
It's been a pleasure to be on this trip. Dale has been a managing legend, running errands, shopping and attending meetings and making sure everyone is early for everything.
The athletes have all tried their best and have learnt new things for their future trips and races.

Thanks Wausau, you have been so welcoming to us again. We leave many friends behind tomorrow morning. Many we will see at future races or on holiday in New Zealand we hope soon.

Next year will see the junior and U23 team racing World Champs in Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia. Get out there training hard. One of you won't be doing so many full runs but I hope the rest go hard and have a great future in the sport.
If you are keen to coach or manage the team, get involved now. Good luck for the future everyone.

Goodbye.
Andy.

P.S. Thanks for all the fish.

Saturday.

Here are some articles in the local paper about racing. Sorry, can't work out how to rotate them all.
Most of the team went and watched the finals and got to see some spectacular racing with new champions, including the first ever U23 world champions being crowned. In the afternoon Cole, Finn and Geoff raced the U18 teams event. Despite some good looking training there were a few mistakes made. They finished 8th with Slovenia taking out the title.

After racing we went in to town and walked around the chalk fest (photos below). Then that night we went to Rib Fest. The boys did their very best to peer pressure Jess in to temporarily shelving her vegetarian status but she stood strong. Many ribs were eaten (and a pizza) and then we watched the balloon glow but everyone was a bit too tired to hang around waiting for the fireworks at 10pm.

 This was set up to hold a gate up, reminded us of home ;-)

 Cop showed up to arrest the USA team at our hotel who kept setting off fireworks. Never seen kids run so fast!!

 Endless lines to buy ribs.

 yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Oh, pretty balloons.

NZ World Champions!!!!

Now I have everyone's attention.

DO MORE FULL RUNS AND COMPETITIONS.

NZ has great paddlers and athletes but the one thing that lets us down time and time again is our ability to compete to our full potential.
In order to be a World champion we need to train harder than the current world champions and I believe some of our guys are very very close to that level. However, our athletes do very few fulls runs and are left trailing even further behind in terms of races to compete in at home.

Athletes, work together to make full runs sessions happen. Set courses together, time yourselves and each other and help each other improve. A target of 1000 full runs this year would be a great start. 500 would be an absolute minimum to bring yourselves up to a great racers level. Prepare as many of them like a race run as possible. How will you fit it in? Hey, I don't care if you ditch every other form of training for the year if you come back and you've done 1000+ full runs.

Parents, go and time the sessions and video the paddling for athletes to review.

Everyone, organize more races. 10 weekends a year would be a start, 15 even better.
 
If everyone works together on this goal in a big positive push, then I absolutely guarantee we'll be reading less and less blog posts that say "if it wasn't for the mistakes......"

I'm writing this now because it's fresh in my mind, I have the attention of lots of interested parties reading this blog and I truly believe after watching and experiencing these World Champs that they have the potential to reach the top.